Last Stop on the Titanic
by Fabius Maximus
Summary: Kim and Ron are babysitting an exhibit that Shego wants...but that may not be the biggest problem...  New Chapter!  Going down.
1. Chapter 1

Last Stop on the _Titanic_

Author's notes:

This is a bit of a different twist for me-- a non-comedy story that isn't A. very long, B. doens't drastically change the characters, in personality of situation by the end of the story.

Note: inflatable slides done up in the "titanic" motif exist-- I've seen them.

_

* * *

_

AP News:

_Today at __8:05 PST__, a massive sea quake was detected by geophysicists across the world. Fortunately there appears to have been no damage or tsunamis resulting from the sea quake. However, it appears that the wreck of the RMS Titanic was buried under thousands of cubic feet of seafloor soil and debrie. This has placed several companies specializing in visits to the stricken liner in some economic distress. The Titanic was the greatest merchant shipping disaster of the early 20th century, the initial damage compounded by… _

Dr. Possible turned the TV off—breakfast or dinner, the parents had a firm rule about TV—which generally could be summed up as: NO. Not that it always was followed, mind you.

"Wow." Kim said. "That's…" She paused, "That's really weird that a quake could do all of that and not hurt anyone else."

"It's very deep, Kimmy-cub." Her father said, spearing a chunk of ham with his fork. His wife might grouse at the "death breakfast" …but she still made it, although James knew that he'd be hearing "bad cholesterol" related comments for the next week. Anne was a doctor, after all.

"Not that it's such a bad thing." Her mother said, sitting down, and trying to pretend that _she _wasn't eating the exact same sort of breakfast.

"Mom?" Kim said, surprised, "But think of all-"

"The tourists who won't be able to gawk at a tragedy?" Her mother said, "Kimmie, the real scientists have been over that ship a dozen times…it's just lookie loos now." She paused, "maybe those poor people will have some peace, now." Kim looked at her mom, one hand holding some toast—she had cheerleading practice in the morning, and you _didn't _want to overload before that…. Well, not more than once, as Ron had once demonstrated…all over Mr. Barkin.

"Isn't there a display at the Middleton museum?" Jim asked.

"Yeah!" Tim said, "It has all the old stuff they brought up…" The two frowned.

"They dumped the cool exhibit—'great disasters in science' for it." The two pouted.

"Now, Jim, Tim…there is nothing 'great' in using a plus instead of a minus in creating nuclear fusion." Their father said.

Kim shook her head, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door.

"Bye Kimmie." Kim gave her mother a kiss and headed on out, to where Ron was heading up the street.

"Ready for practice?" Kim asked him.

"The Maddog is always ready, always prepared, and always unchained!" Ron shouted, taking his 'Maddog victorious' stance.

"And always ready to annoy Bonnie…" Kim said, grinning.

"Always!" Ron answered. With that, they headed off to school.

At lunch, Kim luxuriated in the fact that there had been no calls. No calls at all. Not a single world wide catastrophe, disaster, or otherwise dangerous issue needing her attention. In fact, maybe today she could hit the mall with Monique, or catch a movie with Ron… Her Kimmunicator beeped it's distinctive tone, and Kim pulled it out, suppressing a sight.

"Go Wade." She said, "What's the Sitch?"

"The Middleton Museum wants you to handle security over the next couple of nights for their _Titanic_ exhibit." Kim blinked. They wanted her to babysit part of a shipwreck?

"Why?"

"It seems that over the last six months there's been a run of bad luck on items from the _Titanic_—and now that the ship is gone, the museum directors are afraid that the exhibit will attract thieves…" Wade paused "And they're willing to pay…"

"Wade, I don't-"

"C'mon Kim." Ron said, "It' just like babysitting…except it's like…bigger, and older."

"Yeah, Girlfriend." Monique added. "If they didn't get you, they'd just pay a guard anyway…"

"Um….ooohhhh Okay." Kim said. She'd had her eye on a dress at Club Banana…so this once.

* * *

After school, Ron and Kim headed over to the museum. Kim sighed.

"I need a car." She said, holding onto Ron as they sputtered down the road.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Whenever we have packages, or stuff like that, we always need mom….and _Bonnie_ has a car."

"Bonnie also scares puppies and small children when she walks down the street—and you don't want that, so why the car?" Kim burst into laughter at that.

"Ron! She's not…well, maybe she is."

"There's the museum."

"What's that?" Kim asked. Outside the museum they had an inflatable object, made up to look like the stern of the doomed liner, just before it's last plunge—at exactly the right angle so kids could slide down the rubberized slide. In fact, there were already a few lining up at the steps for the attendant to let them climb up to the stern and do just that.

"Wow…that looks fun." Ron said.

"Ron, it's a kid's ride…" Kim said, and remembering her mother, muttered: "and one in really bad taste."

Inside the museum, they found that the lights were dark in comparison to the outside, the banners reading _Titanic, Voyage to Disaster_ and similar cute sayings. A replica of one of the huge bronze propellers rose in the center of the museum main hall, and smaller halls had been set up as replicas of parts of the ship, with some of the windows being blocked off or turned into "portholes" to add to the ambiance. Scattered among the replicas were real items from the ship—chunks of the hull, glass cases holding artifacts from the ship or the debrie trail that had accompanied it on its fatal plunge. Kim passed on such case, holding a dolls head. The hair and dress had long since decayed, but the eyes were intact, the blue of the glass gleaming in the dark chamber. Kim suddenly shivered.

"Hey KP…want my wind breaker?" Ron asked.

"No….no, it's nothing." She said.

"Kim Possible!" A voice came and a bluff, cheerful looking man with a white beard, stocky form full of energy, came hustling up. "I'm so glad you could come. I'm Dr. Wilson."

"Thanks." Kim said, as he took her and Ron's hand and energetically shook them until both teens worried about their arms. "You want us to guard this display?" Ron looked around.

"It doesn't really seem like something people could walk away with." Ron said.

"It's not….but someone could destroy it—which would make any other artifacts, say those in the hands of private collectors, far more valuable."

"That's…" Kim shook her head, and didn't continue. A curator of the exhibit probably didn't want to hear her opinion.

"Yes?"

"Nothing." Kim said.

"What about other guards?" Ron asked.

"They've… been unwilling to remain here after dark."

"Oh, Ghost stories?"

"Nothing so…. Apparent." Smith said, "Just the typical problems remaining in a building full of gloomy shadows…" Kim grinned.

"Well, don't worry about that—we'll keep the exhibit safe!"

* * *

_Vacation was nice, but boring_. Shego thought. That's why she was back in Middleton.

"Seems old junk is in vogue." The beautiful mercenary said to herself, as she held her binoculars up, and observed the Middleton Museum. "A few trinkets and mama Shego's a lot richer than she was." She grinned. Then she lost her grin. That scooter…

"Great. Possible and the Sidekick… wonderful. Don't they ever do anything _normal?_"

* * *

TBC in: Bump in the Night. 


	2. Bumps in the Night

Bump in the Night.

* * *

As usual on a security job like this, the two split up. Ron was outside with Rufus, and Kim spent her time inside, at the security console. They'd change places in about four hours.

_Fortunately tomorrow isn't a school day. _Her mom had…spoken to her about that, especially after that time she'd fallen asleep at school and flunked a history test… even though the teacher had let her retake it, he'd felt the need to tell her mom… and the fact that she'd just been coming off a marathon three continent pursuit of Duff Killigan, hadn't been taken as a good excuse. Kim's face burned at the talking too she'd gotten from _that…_.and the fact that now, unless the world was about to momentarily come to an end, her mom was only going to allow one or two marathon's in a week…. And those were contingent on her grades.

_Girl who can do anything… including having to have a grade report come home to mom every week. _Kim sighed. Well, most moms would have simply forbidden it entirely…and mom was right in a way. She'd been getting a lot more tired lately, what with all the senior activities she was involved in. Maybe she had tried to take too much on her plate.

But not this. Just a little babysitting job. And one that paid. Kim smiled at that. Ron _was_ right.

Unnoticed by Kim, the security cams, starting with the ones behind her, began to silently fade out.

* * *

Outside, Ron was walking around, the light windbreaker good enough in the warm night air. The cheery slide in the front of the museum…look less cheery now that everything was dark. Ron had a sudden thought.

_What would it have been like, on the top of that thing, seeing the water come closer and closer with no place to go…nothing to do but wait for it-_

"Brrr…" Ron said, suddenly, shivering. Somehow he'd must have walked into a cold eddy of air. Rufus looked around, made a small squeak and dove into a pocket.

"What's wrong, Little Buddy?" Ron asked. "Just a cold breeze… nothing like evil monkeys." But nonetheless, he walked to check the other side of the parking lot… away from the dark slide.

And why had that little breeze smelled… like _ocean_ water?

* * *

Inside, Kim suddenly bolted upright as _all_ the monitors in front of her went out—and turned around, to see that the ones behind her had also gone down. She flipped the switch and frowned as nothing happened.

_How could someone shut them down all at once? The diagnostics are still saying they're working. _It had to be someone very, very good. Kim grabbed her equipment and called Ron.

"Ron, we have a problem…someone turned off all the cameras." Kim said, "Meet me at the main exhibit hall."

"Gotcha KP." Ron said over the strangely staticky connection.

* * *

Inside the museum, Shego quickly popped the duct cover back into place. She'd bypassed all the alarms and had mapped out where the cameras were. Like typical museums, they had spotty coverage, and hadn't thought to fix it. Kimmy'd never know she was here, ensconced in the security center and watching the monitors like a good little rent-a-cop.

"Now, first on my shopping list…those stopped watches." She said, and slipped off into the shadows…which seemed to eagerly reach out an enfold her.

* * *

Kim was puzzled. She'd just checked three cameras, and they were working just fine—except for the fact that the monitors were dark. Time to turn on the room lights. Kim decided. She'd go through the building, checking each camera, and turning on those lights in turn. That'd give her enough light to make certain nobody was trying anything clever.

Kim hit the switch in the room she was in: _Last Day on the Bridge_, and… nothing happened. Now Kim frowned as she hit the switch several times. To no avail.

Which made no sense, because the night lights were on the same cir….

Kim looked up as the nightlights faded out quietly.

There was a cold, damp feel to the air, with the taste of salt water on it.

* * *

"OK…. Rufus, now what are we going to say to Kim." Ron told his pet. "That we managed to get lost in a museum?"

"Un-nuh!" The rodent said. Ron paused, listened, and heard…voices. OK, that wasn't normal for an empty building at night, so he'd check it out—maybe Kim was there. Ron walked, and then stumbled, as the building seem to be unaccountably _tilted_, now he was walking up hill…and there was a smell of oil and sweat in the air. Ron shook his head. This was very….strange. Not even sick and wrong…yet. Then Ron climbed through a doorway, and things…became very sick and wrong.

"What the hell are you doing just standing around!" A man in some sort of old fashioned uniform shouted at him. The chamber—and how could such a huge room fit inside the museum, was a chaos of shouts, shrieking machinery, and strange, unnerving groans. Ron looked up to see vast boilers, smaller machines doing odd things, and men, many of them hanging on for dear life, trying to keep them running.

"Oh God have mercy!" A man screamed out running down past Ron and hammering on a closed iron hatch that had appeared behind him. "We're doomed! We're going to die!"

"Then if you're bloody well going to die, be a man about it!" The officer said, sweat on his brow. "We must keep the electricity up, or there'll be no lights or pumps or radio…it's our duty!" With a gunshot like report, old fashioned circuit breakers popped out and the lights faded, before the officer, cursing slammed them back into place, bringing up the lights again.

"Who the bloody he-" he paused, looking at Ron, "What are you doing down here, lad?"

"Um… I got lost…" He sighed.

"Hurry then, up the ladders, to the boat deck, there may still be time for you…." A tremendous groan echoed through the hull and Ron looked up to see the vast iron girders and braces _twisting_. Ron didn't have time to scream as he head a terrible sound, as the bulkhead behind him collapsed and a wave of dark, freezing water, extinguished all life in the compartment-

And was on his knees, gasping, Rufus trembling in his coat pocket. Ron touched himself.

"I'm alive." Ron said, and looked around the exhibit hall, no sign of the engine room to be found. The floor was back to level. Everything was normal….

Except for the chill in the air.

* * *

Kim was frantically working on her flashlight, which had gone dead moments after turning it on. She could barely see a thing, except for… Kim found herself going into a fighting position, looking at the slightly stooped figure at the edge of the Bridge mock-up.

"Who's there?" Kim said. "The museum's closed." She continued, feeling an odd tremble in her voice. Then, a strange greenish light, like the kind you might get under a few feet of water, seemed to suffuse the room…. And abruptly, Kim looked up and saw diamond clear stars in a sky that was no paint job on a museums ceiling.

"Who…"

"Young lady?" The man said, turning to her. He was older, with a white beard and in a uniform with some medals on it. "You had best proceed to the lifeboats." Kim looked around and saw that the front of the ship- _ship? I'm in a room. There's a wall five feet away from me…_ was already down at the bow, the water lapping far up on it. Behind her, she could hear shouts and orders, fearful cries and the sound of boats being lowered.

"There's no time." He said, coming up to her and taking her by the arm. "There are not enough boats, even for women and children—and you cannot be left behind." Kim, stunned, didn't resist, as he ushered her off the bridge.

"Mommy?" A voice came to her, and Kim looked around. There, near one of the rails, was a little girl, maybe four or five. "I want my mommy."

"Hey." Kim said, "I can help you find-"

"She's not here!" The girl said, running off, and then as she turned the corner, her voice grew indistinct. "You shouldn't be here…" Kim ran after her…

And then painfully smacked her nose into a wall.

"Ow!" She said. The building was back. The lights were on. Everything was normal.

And then she heard a panicked scream coming from deeper in the building.

_Shego?_ Impossible. What could cause Shego to scream like _that?_

TBC.


	3. Screams in the Dark

Screams in the Dark

* * *

Shego had never beaten Kim before. Shego almost beat Kim this time…

By the simple expedient of doing something Kim had never seen before, which was to run right at her, arms flailing, not even _seeing_ her teenage nemesis, just someone between her and the outside.

"Let me go!" She screamed, eyes wide and unseeing, stealth and fighting forgotten. When Kim tried to stop her, shocked, she received a fist in the eye—and again, it landed because Kiom had been expecting to fight a trained martial artist…not a fear crazed madwoman. Shego kicked Kim in the solar plexus, causing her to fall back with a pained "whoof" as the mercenary headed for the door. Ron came out of a side entrance.

"Kim, I just had the w-SHEGO!" Ron fell on his ass, as Shego blazed past him on the way to the doors, and started frantically trying to open them. Kim and Ron followed her.

"Give it up, Shego." Kim wheezed. Shego turned around and Kim started at the look of terror on her face….then her eyes rolled up in their sockets and she passed out. Ron and Kim ran up to her.

"Whoa…KP…what did you _do?_"

"Nothing, Ron…she's… she's cold." Kim said, touching the woman's combat suit. There was _mist_ rising off it, the warmer air of the museum against the chilly suit. "We'd better call the hospital."

"Not the police?"

"No. Hospital." Kim said. "Didn't you notice?"

"No. What?"

"Shego fainted because she couldn't open the door."

"Well, it was locked…"

"Ron… I didn't lock this door. Shego couldn't open it because it opens _inward_….and she was too scared to think of that."

"Maybe we should… search the museum to see what did it?" Ron said, reluctance in his voice. Normally Kim would be the first to…but the way her flashlight had died and…

"No. We need to get her to the hospital."

* * *

Several hours later, after calling the cops, calling Dr. Wilson, and waiting while Shego was delivered to the hospital—this time not in cuffs, but in a Straitjacket, the two teens sat in the waiting room. Kim rubbed her sore eye.

"Hi Kimmie. Don't rub that, you'll only make it worse." Kim looked up,

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

"Your fault, I'm afraid." Her mother sat down, "They called me in about Shego…since I'm chief neurosurgeon."

"Is…something wrong with her brain?" Ron asked, "Well, beyond being a super villain."

"Yes…." She paused, "And Dr. Drakken's emergency contact number isn't being answered. I guess he's on vacation." Kim blinked.

"You have a mad scientist's emergency contact number?"

"Kimmie—his lair is known to every salesman in Middleton—so I assume he didn't see any problem with the hospital knowing, either." Kim shook her head at that, but looked up as her mother continued. "But seeing as you two are the closest associates we're able to contact… come with me." The two followed Anne into the secure psychological ward, done up in neutral colors to try and avoid sparking any problems among the inhabitants.

"There's Shego." Ann said, pointing to a monitor. Kim blinked in shock. Shego was still in the straitjacket, hunched over against the wall, rocking back and forth.

"So cold, can't get warm, so cold, can't get warm, can't get away, looking at me, so cold, can't get warm, look at the eyes, big black eyes."

"And so on." Anne said, turning off the microphone. "We can't get anything coherent out of her… nothing at all." Kim gulped.

"Mom…what happened?" Anne paused, and looked over at Ron and her daughter.

"According to the chemical work up, there was a massive surge in frontal lobe activity…chemicals changed—she was halfway scared to death." The surgeon paused, "But normally that sort of activity doesn't have _this_ outcome—the human mind is very flexible and resilient and I'd have to say Shego's should be among the _most _resilient—she's a mercenary, and has probably seen some unpleasant things…."

"And?" Ron asked.

"And it's almost like something that was completely out of her experience…or something like a phobia. When I was an intern, there was a case…not like this, but perhaps a little similar—a man had fallen through some rotted floorboards. He was phobic about rats…and well… they were in the basement."

"Did they…" Kim said, gulping.

"Hurt him? Not at all…but the hours he spent, looking at their eyes, looking at him…" Anne shook her head. "He had to spent years in therapy to recover."

"Do you think this will happen to Shego?"

"I don't know."

"Can I talk to her?"

"That might not…" Dr. Possible sighed, "On the other hand, she's shown no violent tendencies…so, yes." She paused, "But if she starts to get agitated, the conversations over, Kimberly. This is _my_ business, and you need to do exactly what I say."

"OK, Mom." Kim and Ron walked in, with Anne behind them.

"Shego?" Kim asked. Shego didn't do anything, just kept rocking and repeating her monotone. "Shego?" She repeated, and Shego was looking up at her. Kim stepped back at her wide, staring, eyes, flicking back and forth from Kim to the walls to Ron, back to Kim and than to the walls again.

"You…"

"Yeah, you almost ran me down…."

"They want you…." Shego said. "They need you…."

"What?" Kim asked. "To do what?"

"To destroy….to burn…. So cold. So many eyes. Staring eyes. Empty holes in a skull…." Shego started rocking more. "They're mad at me….they want me to help too."

"Help what?"

"can't get away….so cold…so cold…deep water, so cold, bright stars….hear…..can't stop hearing…." Shego refused to say anything else to Kim. Kim walked out, shivering, as did Ron. Even Anne looked nervous.

"Kimberly…did anything happen in there?"

_Well, I met Captain Smith…._ Right. That would be a great way to book a room next to Shego's.

"Not really…just, well, the place was kind of spooky." Ron looked over at Kim and nodded.

"Real spooky."

"I don't' think 'spooky' would be enough to stop Shego like this." Anne sighed. "Well, you two'd better go on home—I doubt anyone will be trying to break in again tonight." She paused, "but first I'll get you some cream for that eye. I'm afraid you're going to have a shiner tomorrow, though."

"Yeah." Kim said.

* * *

Outside, as they got on Ron's scooter. Ron turned to Kim.

"KP…did anything weird happen to you?" Kim nodded.

"Yeah… it was like…. I was _on_ the Titanic."

"Me too… but it was the engine room…maybe somebody like Dr. Dementor is trying some new weird gadget."

"Maybe…but _why?_ Shego's almost been blasted, vaporized and turned into a mind controlled maid….why would a hologram scare her so badly?"

"I don't know." Ron said, "But KP…. I've got a bad feeling about this. A really, really bad feeling."

"Like Wannaweep?" Kim said. Surprisingly, Ron didn't rise to the gibe.

"Worse. Maybe we should…give this one a pass, KP." Kim thought about it. Maybe it would be a good idea…but…

No. What would people think? Getting chased out of a museum? No way. Kim shook her head.

"No Ron… if something weird is going on." Ron looked at her. "OK, whatever _is_ going on could decide to hit the museum when it's open." She sighed. "We'll try again tomorrow night… after cheerleading practice."

"OK, KP…" Ron said. Neither one said anything more about the museum, but Kim didn't say anything when Ron took the longer route—the one that didn't come in sight of the museum building.

When they got home, Kim kissed Ron goodnight (a common practice after their Junior Prom), and went inside, not even bothering to get a snack before she hit the bed and went to sleep.

* * *

"_Mr. Andrews…is there anything that can be done?" The man Kim had seen earlier that night looked over at another man._

_"No, Captain Smith… I'm afraid not. The ship **will** sink. The damage to the forward compartments makes that certain." _

_"We must commence loading the lifeboats…" the captain paused, "Gentlemen… only women and children are to be boarded. Also, commence launching distress rockets… hopefully, another ship will come to our aid." Kim didn't seem to be noticed in the corner of the room, oddly warm, the ships heaters and lights still working, barely a sense of a list to tell one that hundreds of tons of water were flowing into the ship every minute. _

_"I can't find my mommy." A voice said, and Kim looked down, to see the same blonde haired girl she'd seen earlier in the museum. _

_"I… maybe we can find her together." Kim said, trying to put lightness into her voice. The girl ran into the open bridge wing, and Kim followed, the cold air shocking. _

_"She's not here. Not anymore." Kim shook her head._

_"None of the lifeboats have left."_

_"No. She's not here. I can't find her to go to her." The girl looked up at Kim. "You shouldn't be here."_

_"But-"_

_"Right about that, Miss." A voice spoke behind her. Kim looked back to see a member of the crew, his shirt oddly soaked. "You **don't **belong here…and don't interfere." _

_"Interfere?" Kim started to say, and then gave a cry and stepped back. His eyes…they were empty. No eyeballs in the sockets…just darkness. He reached out and grabbed her and his hands were icy, icy…_

_"Don't hurt her!" the girl said._

_"It has to be done, Elsbeth." The ghoul, man, zombie said, and suddenly he lifted the paralyzed teen over his head and moved towards the rail. There were indistinct sounds of protest, but Kim couldn't move and she was falling and the water was rising up to greet he- _

"AAH!" Kim said, painfully falling on the floor and scrabbling across it until she found the light switch on the wall, turning on her rooms lights.

"Kimmie-cub?" Her fathers voice came, concerned. "What happened. I heard you scream." Kim looked around. The clock read five thirty, the sky turning gray in her windows.

"I…had a bad dream."

"You sounded like it," Jim, or Tim, said. "You woke us up."

"Sorry… Just a bad dream, guys." Kim said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah Dad…probably just Shego getting to me." Kim said. The sounds of her brothers and father's steps receded, and she put her head to the door. She should go back and try to get some sleep.

Kim shivered. No. It was _obviously_ to late—she'd only be asleep for an hour or so before breakfast and just because it wasn't a school day was no reason to sleep in.

Right.

Correct.

It had nothing to do with the fact that she could still see that eyeless face and feel the cold hand… Unwillingly, she looked down, slowly, slowly. To the wrist where he had first grabbed her.

The wrist where a bruise was forming.

TBC.


	4. Pride and Retribution

The next morning, Kim ate breakfast, and called Ron…not for a ride to the mall or the movie… but to the park. For some odd reason, Kim needed to be around people, outside, in the warm sun today. In fact, she'd used some of her money, along with Ron's to actually buy a packaged picnic lunch—_not_ Beuno Nacho, but still, Ron admitted grudgingly, good.

"This is a really weird sitch." Kim said, nibbling on a drumstick. Ron, looking around at the cheery park, nodded.

"Yeah… KP…"

"Yes?"

"Why don't we tell someone?"

"That we're all seeing ghosts in the museum?" Kim said, dryly. "That would work _so_ well."

"And what about mystical monkey power, pan-dimensional vortex thing-a-majigs and Bebes?" Ron asked.

"They're….normal." Kim said, and then blushed. "Well, kinda normal….but if…" She blinked and suddenly got a thought. "Hang on." Kim said, pulling out her kimmunicator.

"Wade." Kim said when the technogenius came up on the screen. "Could you do a favor?"

"Anything you want." Wade said, grinning.

"I need a person search."

"Who and where?"

"More like When…. One name, Elsbeth, no other name. Maybe four or five. Died on the _Titanic._"

"You're….joking, right?"

"No…and oh, she had a nice night dress on—maybe she's second or first class."

"Um…this is going to take some time." Wade said. "I'll have to run a search for all permutations of the name, and maybe even call in some favors to get people to look at…" The genius had a hard time forcing the evil words out, "at…print only archives."

"Please and thank you!"

"Elsbeth?"

"She's a little girl—I keep running into her." Kim said. "She's looking for her mom, and says she can't find her—that she's…. not here."

"KP…" Ron said, "We're in ove-" He paused, "That's not funny, we're really kinda out of our league here."

"Ron…" Kim said, "We were hired to protect the exhibit, and _nothing_ is going to keep us from doing that."

"Kim…."

"End of convo, Ron…."

_Great.__ A museum full of fairly annoyed ghosts and Kim's channeling her 'I can do anything' attitude._ Ron groaned, and then looked up as Kim's head whipped around.

"What is it, KP?"

"Do you hear it?"

"Hear what…" Ron's voice trailed off. Across the park, over the sounds of laughing kids and parents…. He heard it.

"Ring-a-ring of roses,  
A pocket full of posies,  
A-tishoo, a-tishoo!  
We all fall down."

The light voice of one child was joined by some others, and Ron turned to Kim to see the teen turn so pale he thought she'd faint.

"That's her…."

"Her?"

"Elsbeth…." Kim said, and was suddenly running, Ron hurrying to keep up.

The voices remained maddeningly just out of reach, as they came to the basketball courts, and the voices suddenly trailed off. Kim leaped around the side, of the fence that surrounded them. Ready for action, and then came to a sudden stop, her hands falling by her sides.

"KP?" Ron said, panting as he came around the corner… but there was nothing. The courts were empty, except for a spreading puddle of water. Ron blinked and touched it, jerking his hand back.

"What is it?" Kim asked.

"It's freezing…" Ron looked up at the bright sun and tasted the water. "And it's salt water… and…." Kim followed his gaze, looking at the trail of small footprints that ran up to the fence…. And stopped. Kim looked around, feeling her body start to shiver.

A dark museum or night was one thing…but this was the _daytime.

* * *

_

Her kimmunicator beeped.

"Go Wade." Kim said.

"Kim, Shego got out…"

"Mom?" Wade shook his head.

"She's fine…but Shego…. She's…not really there." Wade paused, "in fact, according to the cops, she's heading _back_ to the museum." Kim blinked at that. Why would Shego head _back_ there?

"We're on the way, Wade." Kim said. "C'mon Ron!"

When they got to the museum, there was chaos. Shego had started by destroying the exhibits in front, and was blindly flailing out, green fire going everywhere.

"Burn…" Shego was talking to herself. "Burn it all down…"

"Shego…what have we said about fire safety?" Kim said as she flipped into the lobby. Then she ducked a bolt of energy, and readied herself for an attack. Shego turned around, ignoring her, gathering her power to burn a scale model to ashes. No banter, no quips.

"Kimmie!" Kim turned around.

"Mom?" Her mother had come up in an ambulance and tossed a syringe to her daughter.

"Here, use this—Shego's not well, I don't want you beating her up, and that should bring her down." Kim nodded. Shego wasn't paying any attention to her, so Kim leaped on Shego….

And was tossed back like a rag doll. Kim blinked. How had she ever gotten so strong? Then Kim looked and saw that the fingers on Shego's left hand were bent—she'd broken at least two of them…but she didn't seem to notice.

"Kimberly…use the syringe." Her mother ordered, and Kim needed no second order. This time she landed on Shego and just tried to hang on, while finding a place to use the syringe. For a moment, Shego tried to throw her off, but then Kim managed to inject her. Shegos' movements became less and less coordinated, until she fell over, looking up, blinking stupidly at Kim.

"They're going to be _very_ angry at you." Shego said in a clear voice, before her head lolled back and she passed out. Moments later, Kim's mom and a group of paramedics were loading her into the ambulance.

"I'm sorry, Kimmy." Her mother said, "We decided to let her walk outside, with an escort…and well she went completely berserk the moment she saw the sky…we'll keep her sedated or secured."

"No big mom…" Kim said.

"What did she say to you? I couldn't hear it."

"No-nothing." Kim replied.

"Oh dear!" Dr. Wilson was wailing. "Some of the original items have been destroyed!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Kim said.

"It wasn't your fault, my dear…however…" He said, glaring at her mother, "Perhaps if the hospital was more concerned in safeguarding life and property..." Kim's mother frowned, and returned in a frosty voice.

"We are. However, pardon me if I'm not overly broken up over damage to a ghoulish example of bad taste." Terminating the conversation, she walked back to where the paramedics were securing Shego to the stretcher. Kim shook her head.

"Mom… doesn't like this."

"So she's demonstrated." He said, "But I feel I must ask you to guard the exhibit again tonight…"

"I have cheerleading practice that goes until 8…"

"As long as you're here before it's completely dark, the regular security staff will remain on site."

"Ok!" Kim said, and turned to leave.

"Don't…" A voice spoke. "We won't let you…" Another voice said. Kim turned around to Wilson.

"Did you say something?"

"No…why?"

"No-nothing." Kim said. Then she frowned, Ghosts or mad scientists, she wasn't _about_ to let them beat her.

* * *

At the cheerleading practice, Kim was in her usual form…but not Ron. He missed every cue, and seemed to be distracted.

"Ron, head in the game!" Kim said, in exasperation, as Bonnie impartially glared at them both.

"Sorry KP." Ron said. "I'm just a little…" He shrugged. "Bugged."

"Oh?" Kim said.

"Yeah. I don't know… this whole thing…feels…wrong." Ron said. The other cheerleaders gathered around.

"What feels wrong?" Tara asked.

"The museum gig." Kim said, ruthlessly stamping out a sense of agreement. "Ron's getting all ghost freaked about it."

"Maybe you should listen to him." Tara responded. "He was right about Wannaweep." Ron glared at Kim.

"Kim, we both had…experiences. We hear a girl who according to you was _on_ the Titanic singing a song in the park today. Something scared Shego so badly that she went back to _destroy_ the museum…." Ron sighed, "Kim, look, this isn't some Hollywood horror flick. Something is seriously, badly weird."

"And you're the mast-" Kim broke off. Nobody was supposed to know about Mystical Monkey Power. Ron didn't hesitate.

"Yeah…and trust me—every one of my hairs is standing straight up—Rufus' would be too if he had any hair." Ron looked at Kim and saw the anger in her eyes—the anger that rose whenever she felt she was losing.

But there was fear in them as well…and Kim only knew one way to deal with fear—power through it.

"Kim… let's give this one a rain check…" Ron said, "We could even ask Global Justice to find something for us to do—that'd be more important than guarding a museum."

"NO!" Kim's shout surprised even her. _The feel of a cold hand on her wrist._ She shook off the tremor and glared at Ron.

"IF you don't want to do it, fine! But I'm going to protect that exhibit, and nothing, not a ghost, not Shego, not _anything_ is going to get past me." Kim furiously spun on her heel. Ron quietly spoke behind her.

"I've always been with you Kim…you know that." He shook his head. "But…" Kim was already out of the gym, heading into the ladies dressing room.

"Wow… never expected you to be scared, Stoppable." Bonnie said, then paused, "Not like this, at least."

"Not like this?" Ron asked.

"Yeah—you run around and scream…but this is a… I don't know, _calm_ kind of scared."

"Yeah…as in 'out of my wits'" Ron said.

* * *

Kim threw on her missions clothes in the locker room. Glaring at the kimmunicator, she tried to calm herself down with some breathing exercises. So things _were_ weird….so Ron had a point.

But she didn't quit. She could do anything, and that included protecting some old pieces of junk. Kim shivered in the night air…which seemed to be getting colder.

* * *

"Wow…" Brick said. "You guys see the outside? Freaky." Bonnie's ride was at the door, and Tara and the others looked out to see it. Ron walked up, a prickling feeling at the back of his neck.

The sky, the early night sky…was an odd greenish color. Not normal, and they started to get chilled at the entrance.

"Geez." Brick said, "It was 90 degrees today…." Bonnie took his arm and huddled into him.

"No kidding." The brown haired cheerleader said, teeth beginning to chatter, "I didn't bring my jacket." Tara looked out and suddenly turned pale.

"Can you hear that?" She asked.

"What?" Marcella asked. Tara hushed them with a gesture. The teens listened, and then they heard it, coming dimly as if from a great distance.

Screams. Pleas….the sounds of thousands of people begging and crying out. Suddenly, the little group had moved back, closing the doors.

"We…we…should go home." Tara said.

"It's probably nothing." Bonnie said "…some geeks are having a joke on us."

"So you're going to go home with Brick?" Tara asked.

"Um…maybe we could wait here…and then all go to a movie…together." Bonnie replied, unsuccessfully trying to keep a tremor out of her voice.

Moments later, the cheerleaders and others had somehow found themselves in a tight little knot, at the far end of the chamber from the doors to the outside. A wind had picked up outside as well, and several of the girls were huddling together. Tara and Marcella had huddled close to Ron, his arms around them.

"I…I don't like this." Tara said. Bonnie didn't snark at all… in fact, Ron noticed that Bonnie was huddling close to Brick.

Then the lights went out. There were several screams.

"It's okay." Brick said, "probably just a little problem with the lights…" and then light started to rise, of a sort.

"Ron…" Tara quavered and held onto Ron with a death grip, as did Marcella. Normally Ron would be happy at this…but then he saw what the light was revealing.

The floor of the gym seemed to be crowded…men and women standing, in old fashioned dresses and suits…looked up at the teens. Glaring, disapproval on their faces. Then the light started to go down, but the last light showed those glaring angry faces, and those strangely dead eyes….looking at them. Tara and Marcella weren't saying anything, and Ron could hear choked whimpers from the girls and some of the guys…Brick was saying a Hail Mary…but quiet, oh so quietly. Nobody wanted to attract their individual attention… The weight of anger in the room wasn't aimed directly at any one of them…but he could feel it. Oh yes.

And then the dark was complete, and moments later the lights came on again. A soft exhalation came from all the teens.

"Wha…." Bonnie shut up, tried again, but her voice was just as quavery the second time. "What was that, Stoppable…." Ron thought about lying…or whether Bonnie would laugh at him.

"You know that exhibit…. I don't think artifacts are the only thing they dredged up." Bonnie didn't laugh. Then, Brick looked around.

"Shouldn't Kim be back by now?"

* * *

"You shouldn't have done that." Kim spun around at the voice.

"Elsbeth…" She asked. The girl was standing right in front of her…but she looked different. Her dress was soaked and her body was an odd pale color…with gems in her hair, Kim realized, catching the light.

"Done what?"

"Said what you did…they're angry. They're _very_ angry."

"About the museum?" Kim asked, "I have to…that's what they hired me to do."

"It's not right." The girl said, stamping her foot. "I want to find mommy!"

"I'll help you…" Kim said, suddenly realizing her breath was condensing in the suddenly cold air. It was very cold…and she could smell salt water on the air.

"You can't help me!" The girl said. "I can't find mommy here!" Kim reached out to touch the girl…and suddenly recoiled.

Her skin was icy—literally, icy, and Kim realized that the "gems" were crystals of ice in her hair, her dress rigid with frozen water. The child raised a hand and pointed at Kim, the crackling sound coming from the fabric as little dustings of frozen water were released. Kim suddenly realized that her eyes were dead…like a mannequin's.

"They say it's your fault!"

"My fault…I'm just doing my job-"

"You said the same thing _they _said, when we left." Kim was backing off now, her cheerleading uniform giving no protection from that cold, that somehow had become utterly bonechilling. Then, the lights started to go down.

"I'm…I'll be back." Kim said, backing away, falling over a bench and suddenly getting back to her feet. The lights were almost completely out, and she could hear…screams. Moans. Pleas.

She got to the door…but it wasn't locked, but it wouldn't open.

"Ron? Ron!" Kim shouted, feeling her self control begin to fray. "Get me out of here!" Kim looked down at another sound…and saw running water, an inch deep, a layer of fog just above it.

_Where's it coming from, it can't be coming from the sh-shower._

"**Ron!"** This time she screamed, self control be damned. "Ron, HELP!" She went back to fumble for the kimmunicator, or the laser…. And fell down on a trunk that bobbed and floated madly. Kim's legs were chilled to the bone before she could pull them up, as she looked around.

"For God's sakes! Someone help us!"

"God save me!"

"My baby, someone help my baby!" There was an unholy chorus of shrieks and cries, from all around her.

"Where am I…where's the locker room!" She shouted out, looking up at a clear sky, hundreds of stars looking down in lordly indifference to man and his works. Then she looked down….

There were people around her, for as far as she could see, all crying out, all screaming for help.

"Return the lifeboats!"

"Don't leave us!"

Kim tried to back away, but she couldn't, she was in the _middle _of them, and any motion caused the trunk to move alarmingly. Then she looked around, and realized that most of the people around her had already died, faces coated in frost, lips skinned back in a rictus of horror, or despair…or even resignation on a few. Then Kim saw her.

Elsbeth. Dead. Bobbing along, another man with her who had apparently held her up until he had expired. Her doll bobbed next to her. The child's eyes were open, rimmed with ice.

"But I…" Then, before Kim could finish her statement, Elsbeth turned and looked at her.

_This can't be happening. This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream!_ Kim frantically thought.

"I told you they would be angry." She said, and then suddenly the cries were back, louder, but now full of anger.

"Drag her down!"

"If she likes it so much, let her join us!" The man with Elsbeth suddenly lashed out and gripped Kim's leg with a ice cold hand.

"Always more room in first class, mum." He said, and pulled.

Kim went mad. Her skills, her black belts, her jokes, abandoned her, and she screamed, her voice high and shrill, cutting into her vocal chords, as she flopped onto her inadequate refuge.

"Ron…RON…. OH GOD, RON, _HELP ME!_"

"God's on vacation, dear." A matron said, her gray hair a single mass of ice crystals, her eyes fixed on Kim. "He can't be bothered with us." Her thin arms reached out, and with irresistible force started to pry Kim's fingers loose. The cheerleader frantically started kicking, all martial arts forgotten, desperately trying to stay put. She looked up and suddenly there was another man in front of her, a man with sooty face and terrible burns from steam, he laughed, and grabbed her other hand.

"Not as fun being here is it?"

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Kim babbled, tears rolling down her face.

"Oh, you had time enough for that before…too late now." Another man said, his voice slurred from whatever impact had destroyed half his face and sheared one arm off. His other arm finished prying her loose and now Kim was being pulled into the water.

"Isn't she such a pretty thing?" A maid cooed to the dead child in her arms, as she bobbed close to Kim. "She has eyes just like yours…." And then there were more and more and more, and Kim couldn't fight them as she was pulled under, not even remembering to hold her breath as she screamed and screamed and screamed.

* * *

"Kim?" Ron asked, coming to the door to the girls locker room. The others had followed him…nobody wanted to be alone. In fact, some of the girls who had arrived in their own cars had already decided to drive out together…and get their cars tomorrow.

In the daylight.

"KP!" Ron called. Tara suddenly looked down.

"What's that?" She asked. Ron looked down and saw water coming from under the door…cold water, with a fog condensing just above it. Suddenly Ron got a horrible feeling, remembering the anger he'd felt.

_What if what we saw…._

"KP! I'm coming in!" Ron said, then touched the door and gasped pulling his hands back involuntarily…there was a ripping sound and part of his _skin_ was pulled off, even as condensation froze on the outside of the door.

"KIM!" Ron screamed and pulling his shirt off used it to shield his hands as he pulled again.

No go. The doors were immovable, but now more water was coming out from under the door. The other Cheerleaders were looking in horror, and suddenly Bonnie was next to him, using her top to shield her hands. Normally, being next to bonnie when she was in naught by a bra and bottoms would be, well, thrilling, but Ron only had eyes for that door.

"Here!" Brick said, coming up with the fire axe. He didn't bother to try and chop down the door, but wedge the thick wooden haft of the axe and started to try and lever the door open. Ron joined him and threw his weight into it, as the girls pulled.

"It's starting to come…" Brick grunted, "Bonnie, get back!"

Then the door started to slowly open, as a gusher of icy cold, oily water came flooding out across the floor. The cheerleaders jumped back and Bonnie clasped her arms around her as a deadly cold gush of foggy air followed the water…and then the door was open and a _wave_ of water broke across the floor of the gym, causing some teens to leap up onto chairs, shuddering at the look and the feel of the water and air. Then the flood was gone and Ron and Brick charged into the dark room, followed with Bonnie with her penlight.

"Why no emergency lights?" Brick muttered.

"I don't know." Ron said, banishing the thought of what would happen if the soaked lights decided to come back on and ground out through anyone standing in the water.

"She's not in the showers." He said, looking in.

"Not over-" Brick started, when a scream came behind them.

"KIM!" Bonnie screamed, and Ron had never heard her so terrified. He must have teleported to where the standing, paralyzed, hands jammed into her mouth. Kim was on the floor, in her cheerleading uniform….socked, hair a mass of ice, her face pulled back in a nearly inhuman rictus of terror and despair. Her mouth was open, and a trickle of water (_salt water,_ Ron thought), dribbled down the side of her face to join the pools in the room.

And she wasn't breathing.

In fact...she looked dead.

TBC.


	5. Light and Dark

Light and Dark.

* * *

Ron ran to Kim, Brick and Bonnie were staring in horror. Quickly, Ron tipped Kim over on her side, water running out of her mouth and compressed her chest.

A gout of seawater exploded from her mouth, and Ron rolled her back over and started applying mouth to mouth. Bonnie hopped on over on the other side helping with the CPR.

For several minutes, Ron grew more and more terrified…until, suddenly, Kim started to breath.

"Alright KP!" Ron said, "Let's get you…" His voice trailed off. Kim was breathing, but other than that she was still rigid…eyes wide open, unseeing, unmoving.

"I called 911." Tara said, unsteadily, coming into the damp room. Meanwhile, a few other cheerleaders had come from the boys' locker room, which had not been flooded, and were bringing towels to wrap Kim in.

"KP?" Ron asked, "KP!"

There was no response.

* * *

_Kim was in a dark place. There was only night, and she couldn't even see—wasn't even certain if she could feel the ground she walked on. _

_"Ron?" Kim asked. There was no reply. "Ron!" her voice seemed to be swallowed up in the darkness. But in one direction, it seemed to be slightly lighter. The Teen turned and walked that way.

* * *

_

"What happened?" Dr. Possible asked. She'd been at the hospital watching over Shego, when Kim had come in. The paramedics and the ER doctors were stumped, so Kim came up to her department, since it appeared to be a neurological problem.

"According to the kids?" A nurse answered, "She almost drowned in a locker room." Anne frowned at that, but still…. She brushed Kimmie's hair back and felt the sand like sensation of salt crystals in it. Her clothes were also impregnated with salt and oil residue, and were lying in the prep room of the ER.

But Kim's eyes were still open. She was breathing, unsteadily and shallowly, but so far they hadn't been forced to put her on a respirator.

"Here's the brainscan work up." An aide said to her. Anne looked at it and blinked. It wasn't the same as Shego… the sections of the brain relating to sensory input were working, if anything, over time.

"But what is she seeing…" Dr. Possible asked herself, banishing her fear by focusing on the problem. Hallucinations? Not any type she'd ever seen…. She turned to the orderly.

"Keep watching her—24 hours supervision and be prepared to put her on full life support if any vital signs shift… I need to talk to Ron."

* * *

_Kim had been walking for what seemed like hours, but the light—well, dark actually but it was somehow lighter than where she was, had been growing. _

_Even so, the last step took her by surprise, as suddenly her foot hit a wooden deck, and the all too familiar smell of salt water hit her. The air was cold, cold. Kim heard shouts and orders, confused pleas and cries, and over her, an obscenely cheerful skyrocket boosted into the sky, exploding into a white flower of light._

_Night time. _

_On the Titanic_

_And this time, Kim had a terrible feeling, it wasn't going to be so easy to leave.

* * *

_

"What happened Ron?" Anne said. Ron looked at her and thought for a moment.

"Dr. Possible." The teen said, "I'm…this is going to sound crazy…but here it is." Ron started talking and for the next fifteen minutes continued non-stop, with Kim's mother not saying a thing. When he finished, she nodded.

"It sounds insane." Anne said, "ghosts are angry at my daughter for keeping the exhibit intact…and were angry at Shego for something else—probably stealing, if I know her."

"You believe me?" Ron blurted out.

"Of _course_ I believe you, Ron." Anne said, "You've never given me cause to do anything else…whether or not what you saw was _correct…_" She laughed softly, humorlessly, "Between moodulator chips and mind control gadgets, it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone is playing a particularly sadistic game with you and Kim." She sighed. "Ron… can you try and find out anything other information? Right now Kimberly's…condition is something I've never seen before."

"Sure thing, Dr. P."

"Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Be _very_ careful." Dr. Possible said, "Don't take…" She paused, looking at Ron. _Might as well tell him to stay home as to not risk it all for Kimmie… _"Any unnecessary risks."

"OK." Ron said. It was then that his communicator beeped out its cheerful tune.

"What is it, Wade?" Wade looked worried,

"Ron, I just heard about Kim on the emergency bands…what happened?"

"Other than she almost drowned in a locker room? She's in some kind of coma." Ron sighed, "Wade, did you find anything out about that girl?

"It took a while…" Wade said, "But yeah—there was an Elsbeth, about five years old, in second class. She didn't survive."

"What about her family?"

"Her mother and older sister did survive—somehow, they got separated, but I don't know how—neither one would ever talk about it, and they both are dead—mother died in 1964 and the sister passed away in 2001."

Suddenly Ron went cold—a sensation he was becoming used to—but this time from realization.

_Why can't she find mommy? Because mommy didn't die **on** the Titanic—she survived. And when she died, she went on to whatever destiny awaited her…and wasn't held back the way poor Elsbeth has been._

_But why? This isn't some ghost story with some evil guy who doesn't want to leave…she's a little **girl.**_Ron shook his head. He knew that Dr. Possible wasn't completely convinced, but Ron was—his connection with magic perhaps made him more perceptive, but he knew.

This was nothing involving mind control chips, holographic ghosts or anything else. This involved something much older, more primal…and more powerful.

"Ron?" Ron shook his head at Wade's comment.

"Sorry Wade, I was just trying to figure out why… Why they'd be so pissed at _Kim?_"

"You really think it's a bunch of ghosts?" Ron paused, then nodded.

"Yeah…I do."

* * *

_Nobody was paying much attention to Kim. _

_"Get the Collapsible raft down!"_

_"Trying, sir!" Over the sound of the officers and men desperately trying to get the remaining lifeboats away—struggling in a situation none of them had anticipated or trained for, there was a strangely cheerful sound of music being played. A light, dance number from the dawn of the 20th century, it sounded like. Kim saw the band, playing away as if they were at a competition, not about to die. _

_"Elsbeth?" Kim called out, hugging herself. There was no sign of the child, and nobody was paying attention to her…even though she was dressed in her cheerleader outfit, which would, to put it mildly, scandalize anyone from this time. _

_"She's not here, child." Kim turned around and saw a man looking at her, sadly. _

_"Who…"_

_"Thomas Andrews… at your service." He said, "Designer of the Titanic, although I'm afraid…not a **good** designer, all things considered." Kim looked around, at the others._

_"They won't notice you…much." He quietly said. "We're just replaying something that has happened over and over again, uselessly, for all who died, died, and all who lived… well, they're not here." A thunderous chorus of barking interrupted him, and Kim blinked as a parade of dogs went charging down the deck._

_"Wha…"_

_"Ah, Mr. Astor opened the Kennels and released the dogs. He did not fancy them dying in their cages." Andrews said. _

_"You don't sound angry at me."_

_"I'm not."_

_"But Elsbeth said…"_

_"I'm not, but others are…"_

_"Why?"_

_"Because you are one of the reasons we cannot leave…."

* * *

_

Ron had left the hospital, heading back to the museum. He didn't want to go. Oh God, he _didn't _want to go. But Kim was in danger, so he went. He'd left Rufus at the hospital, with Kim. Ron had a feeling that there was nothing here that a naked mole rat could help with.

The problem is, it didn't make any _sense_. They'd died on the _Titanic, not_ in the museum…. And what was so special about the exhibits. Wade had checked and it had mostly been junk, material recovered from the debrie field and limited probes into the ship before it'd been destroyed in the quake.

"OK… they're pissed at Kim." Ron said to himself. "Fine, _why?_ Because she didn't let Shego burn the place down?"

"But dammit," Ron continued, "Why here? Why not-" Suddenly, Ron almost wrecked his bike.

Maybe it wasn't the items, per se…but something else. He shook his head, whatever it was he didn't know…but he knew what _Shego_ had wanted to do. Ron stopped and thought about it for a few seconds. Then he took the communicator out.

"Wade."

"What is it Ron?"

"I need a truck, and some full gas cans."

"_What?_" Wade asked.

"Can you get them?"

"Yes…but why?"

"I may…be burning the museum down."

"_What?"_

"Look, Wade, Shego went _back_ to the museum, and was trying to wreck it. So maybe that's what they wanted. Kim stopped her, and next thing we know, Kim's in the hospital, in some kind of weird coma." Ron shrugged. "All the ghost stories, I ever heard, the ghosts are here for a reason—solve that, and they leave."

"_Ghost Stories?"_ Wade seemed at a loss for words. "Ron, half those stories were dreamed up by camp counselors to scare children!"

"Do you have any _better_ ideas?" Ron asked, "KP's in trouble Wade, real trouble…and this may be the only thing I can do for her."

"I…" Wade shook his head. "Ron, you'll go to jail for this."

"And if I don't, Kim'll probably either be this way forever, o-or die." Ron paused, "Jail's not so bad, if you ignore the food." His joke fell flat. "Look—just have the truck and the gas at the museum—I'll go in first and…figure out what's going on."

"And if they're pissed at you as well?"

"Hey, they've got lots of room at the hospital." Ron said. _That_ joke didn't fly very well either. "Just do it, Wade…."

"Ok…Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck…and be careful."

"Oh yeah." Ron got on his scooter and headed down to the museum. Wade would have the gas there in a bit…and he'd hopefully know what to do with it. As he drove, he looked over at the sky above the location of the museum…it had the same, odd, greenish tinge they'd all seen earlier. Ron felt the looming anger, fear, despair in the air, and as he drove, he noticed that there were no other cars on the road. No late night walkers…the houses all had their drapes pulled, even though it seemed like every house had turned on every interior light, the outlines around the drapes being spooky rather than pleasant… the houselights trying to fight against what was outside. Ron shivered.

So everyone else felt it, even if they didn't know what it was, and were doing their best to _avoid_ it…. And he was riding right into the center of it.

TBC.


	6. Going Down

Bet you didn't expect to see _this_ at this point, did you :). I'll be trying to finish it over the next couple of weeks, but here's a new chapter.

* * *

"Anything?" Anne's husband asked.

"No dear." Dr. Possible replied. "There's been no change in her condition." She sighed. "I don't know how long this is going to last. Coma's, even "normal" ones, can vary greatly in when, and if the patient recovers." Anne realized she was falling into pedantry, since her husband was no idiot…but she wasn't used to being helpless.

* * *

_"Protecting? The museum?" Kim blinked. "How can that… don't ghosts…" Her voice stopped. Kim looked around, trying to collect her thoughts. "Why are you here?"_

_"Because of guilt…and because you won't let us go." Andrews said. _

_"**I** won't let you go?" Kim said. "I'm just protecting the-"_

_"Memory of our shame…or more specifically, the thing that lets everyone else smile at our foolishness… from the safety of their houses…" He paused, "You do know that ghosts are not only kept on the earth by their own will…often they can be held by the will of others."_

_Kim stared at him, then looked around, listening to the orders, the cries, the sounds of rockets leaping up into the sky, blooming in bright, useless lights. _

_"But…everyone…"_

_"Wishes to be here? Or mocks us for our failures?" Andrews paused. "It was not we who gave entire generations to the fire, or devised weapons more terrible than the darkest nightmares of man… yet here we are." _

_"Wait…wishes to be…" Kim's voice trailed off. She thought about the Titanic movie, with the teen heartthrob, and her and her girlfriends sighing about how romantic it was…_

_"No…"_

_"Yes…"_

_"But…but what will happen to me?" Kim asked, her voice unsteady. Andrews looked at her in pity._

_"Child… I didn't wish this to happen to you, but now…" He sighed, "In forty five minutes, the ship will sink, you will die here…your body will die in the living world…" He turned away, "And you will be one of us, repeating this final night over and over again."

* * *

_

Ron got off the scooter, and there, true to Wade's word, was a gas truck. No sign of the driver. Ron wondered if Wade had convinced him to leave…or if he'd left when he'd seen the odd lights flashing inside the museum, the greenish glow to the outside air…and the looming sense of power and anger that clung to everything like a funeral shroud.

Now, he could go in and ask them politely… or beg or… Suddenly Ron found something that rarely happened to him.

He was getting pissed.

No. He was not going to go in and ask, "pretty please, could you give Kim back." Kim didn't deserve this. She hadn't sunk the ship, and she hadn't deliberately tried to screw anything up. If they'd wanted to get her to back off, they should have tried to do something other than spooky tricks and songs.

Dead or not, Ronald Stoppable and the spooks were going to have a little chat. Besides, all the old stories said that the reason ghosts were dangerous was because they were righteously angry.

Well so was Ron. Ron walked over, grabbed a can of gasoline, thought about it, and unreeled one of the gas lines from the truck. He walked right up to the door, frowned for a moment, and then kicked it, once, twice three times, until the door frame came loose, the safety glass shattered and fell onto the floor of the museum.

"Oh yeah. Let's talk." Ron said, striding in.

* * *

_"But… why here? I checked, all this stuff…none of it is really that unusual…why not the first people who came to the ship?"_

_"They were explorers, Young Lady." Andrews said, "But after them…the film makers, the collectors…the adventure seekers…" He paused, "All walking on the place associated with our deaths, and I may assure you, our deaths were not the deaths we had imagined or wished for ourselves." He paused, "But now, we are more awake than we've ever been…"_

_"The…the seaquake?" Kim paused, "Did you do that?"_

_"No. Maybe God, in His wisdom did…but we are closer to freedom than we have ever been….and I fear many here were not willing to understand that your intentions were good when you thwarted the thief. They simply see you as another vulture." He sighed. "And now, that you are here, it is too late—even if they repented, they do not have the power. I am truly sorry."_

_Kim shuddered. She was barely seventeen…she couldn't die here. She **couldn't.**_

_You mean you couldn't die here like Elsbeth did. A voice said to her. Elsbeth hadn't had the chance to become seventeen when the waters took her. In fact…_

_"Elsbeth?" Kim called. A voice came back, distant. "I can't find my mommy or my doll…" Suddenly, Kim turned and moved towards the interior of the tilting ship._

_"Where are you going?"_

_"To find Elsbeth…to save her!"_

_"My dear…you can't… she's **already** dead." Andrews paused, "Where you die now, will be where you will lie for the rest of your existence here… at least stay top deck!" But Kim didn't hear him as she hurried into one of the hatchways, moving down into the ship, chasing a voice.

* * *

_

Inside the museum, there were sounds, and the scent of water, and odd moving shadows at the corner of the eye. Ron wasn't having any of it. If he stopped, if he started thinking about this, he'd take off and not stop until he hit Arizona, so he let his anger carry him.

"I'm here!" he shouted. "With the gas! Want me to burn down the place…Let's talk."

_Burn it…burn it…free….. _Thousands of voices assaulted him, desperate, hopeless, despairing. Ron shook his head.

"No."

_BURN IT! YOU MUST, END IT!_

The roar drove him to his knees, but Ron kept his head up.

"No." He repeated. "Not until you tell me what you did to Kim."

_She's with us._

"Let her go, and I burn the place."

_We cannot…_

"Then no fire."

_She will die with us… be trapped with us._

"And that's different if I burn this place how?"

_She may be freed with us._

"To where?"

_We do not know. Please… let us go?_ Now the voice was pleading, and Ron felt his anger flag, as much as he kept it up. There was agony in it, sorrow, a weight of despair that could fill the entire world.

"Then why did you take her?"

_We were angry…after so long, to be so close…_ Ron paused.

"And you can't get her out."

_…no. _A chorus of screams of anger, or guilt rose around him, but it was not directed at him.

_You are right. It was wrong… go. We will not stop you._

"And that will help KP how?"

_You cannot._

"Hmph. You may be wrong…especially since I'm going to try." Ron paused, "So, can you suck me down the rabbit hole as well?" He paused, "After I set up something." Ron opened up the valve on the gasoline line and let it start running out into the main hall.

"Wade?" Ron called on his communicator. "Can you make a spark with this thing?"

"Um… yeah. Why?"

"Set it to go off in 45 minutes, Wade."

"Ron…"

"I'll be clear, don't worry."

He turned, "OK…now, let's do this."

* * *

_"Elsbeth!" Kim shouted. The interior corridors were tilted, mostly deserted, the lights still blazing away. Elsbeth seemed to be just ahead of her, calling out for her mommy, for her doll. _

_And they were heading down, towards the bow. Kim could hear water sloshing ahead. _

_"Oh boy…" Kim shuddered. At some point the lights would fail, and then…she imagined feeling the ship start into its final plunge, the inky waters rushing up to her, the darkness and cold taking- _

_"Stop it." The cheerleader ordered herself. She was going to find Elsbeth. It didn't' matter if they were going to die. It didn't matter if she couldn't save her **life**. _

_Kim could at least make certain that if Elsbeth had to do this over and over again, she died in the open, under the stars. Not trapped in the guts of this dying ship.

* * *

_

_Ron dropped onto the hard deck and rolled. Getting up he looked down the sloping deck as the water started moving up faster. Most of the people were moving up to the stern, as the ship slowly listed even further. _

_"God." Ron said. There was a woman near him, heading towards the stern, soothing the toddler she held clutched to her chest. The sounds of a priest offering final absolution rose into the cold air, mixing with the sound of the band. _

_"These people don't deserve this." Ron said. Repeating this night? How many nights had there been since the ship sank… _

_"Too many." He heard and turned and looked over at a well dressed man. _

_"Jacob Astor." He said to Ron, nodding. "Your… fiancée is currently inside the ship." _

_"Thanks…" Ron looked around. "Why can't you leave?"_

_"Because people keep remembering us."_

No. That can't be it. _Ron Thought_. Because if that was it… they could never leave. There was another reason. God wouldn't let a bunch of kids dreaming about romance keep them here, what ever these people thought.

_Ron turned and walked down towards the bow of the ship, heading for an entrance to see if he could find Kim.

* * *

_

_Kim running, gasped as the cold water hit her legs, as it rose. Further down, the lights still blazed, eerily, underwater, the corridor vanishing into the green murk. _

_And there she was. _

_Elsbeth, holding her doll, perched on a cart that had not yet been carried away, looking terrified around at the rising water. Without a pause, Kim splashed into the water, up to her waist, and teeth chattering, grabbed Elsbeth and turned around, heading to the top deck. _

_"No! You'll die!" Elsbeth cried out. _

_"Maybe…" Kim said, "But not here…. C'mon, let's get out of here." _

_And then the lights flickered, once, flickered twice, and died. _

_TBC._


End file.
